VOLCANIC PHENOMENA. 
71 
side of this large crater, divided from it by a nar¬ 
row ridge of volcanic rocks, was another, fifty-six 
feet in circumference, from which volumes of sul¬ 
phureous smoke and vapour continually ascended. 
No bottom could be seen ; and on throwing stones 
into it, they were heard to strike against its sides 
for eight seconds, but not to reach the bottom. 
There were two other apertures near this, nine feet 
in diameter, and apparently about two hundred 
feet deep. As the party walked along the giddy 
verge of the large crater, they could distinguish 
the course of two principal streams, that had issued 
from it in the great eruption, about the year 1800. 
One had taken a direction nearly north-east; the 
other had flowed to the north-west, in a broad irre¬ 
sistible torrent, for a distance of twelve or fifteen 
miles, to the sea, where, driving back the waters, it 
had extended the boundaries of the island. They 
attempted to descend this crater, but the steepness 
of its sides prevented their examining it so fully as 
they desired. 
After spending some time there, they walked 
along the ridge between three and four miles, and 
examined sixteen different craters, similar in con¬ 
struction to the first they had met with, though 
generally of smaller dimensions. The whole ridge, 
along which they walked, appeared little else than 
a continued line of craters, which, in different 
ages, had deluged the valleys below with floods of 
lava, or showers of cinders. Some of these craters 
appeared to have reposed for ages, as trees of con¬ 
siderable size were growing on their sides, and 
many of them were embedded in earth, and clothed 
with verdure. In the vicinity of the craters they 
found a number of small bushes, bearing red 
berries in crowded clusters, which, in size and 
